Basrah Governorate Profile July 2009 Overview Situated in the south eastern corner of Iraq, Basrah is the socio- economic hub of southern Iraq. The governorate is of great strate- gic importance, as it possesses the whole of Iraq’s single stretch of coastline, a significant amount of oil, the Shatt al-Arab waterway and borders with Kuwait and Iran. Basrah also contains part of the Marsh- lands, which have been an important source of support for Shi’a politi- cal movements.
A government crackdown in March 2008 on militia groups operating in Basra and the subsequent declaration of a ceasefire by Al-Sadr led to a much-improved security environment in the second half of that year. An unusually high proportion (85%) of Basrah’s IDPs – most of whom come from Baghdad – would like to settle in the local community.
Due to the high salt content of local water sources, one of the main problems facing Basrah is access to safe drinking water. The water from the general network is only fit for washing and cleaning pur- poses. Water for drinking and cooking is generally purchased from water tankers or markets.
Basrah performs well according to other infrastructural indicators: IDPs &Number Returnees of post-2006 IDPs and Returnees per 1000 sanitation and electricity access are significantly better than the na- tional average throughout the governorate. However, female labour Numberof theof post-2006 populations IDPs of and Basrah Returnees and Iraq per 1000 of the populations of Basrah and Iraq force participation outside Basrah city is low, and female unemploy- 1.4 ment is particularly poor in Fao, Al-Midaina and Al-Zubair districts. Returnees 4 Demographics 18 Governorate Capital: Basrah IDPs Source: IOM as of September 2008 Area: 19,070 sq km (4.4% of Iraq) 54 Population: 1,912,533 (6% of total) Source: GoI COSIT (est. for 2007) Gender Distribution: Male: 50% Female: 50% 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Geographical Distribution: Rural: 21.8 Urban: 78.2% Governorate totals: 35,509 IDPs 2,748 Returnees Source: GoI COSIT (est. for 2007) Population by district: Basrah Iraq Basrah 951,655 Al-Midaina 160,420 *IDPs and Returnees are not included in the overall governorate population Al-Qurna 194,216 Shatt Al-Arab 104,089 Abu Al-Khaseeb 162,740 Al Zubair 320,523 Security Security Incidents in Basrah Fao 18,890 Source: WFP VAM (2007)* 55 Security in Basrah 50 Employment Employment in Basrah 45 Employment in Basrah 40 Source: UNAMI SSI 35 Female Labour Force 18% Participation (aged 15-64) 30 11% 25 Male Labour Force 81% 20 Participation (aged 15-64) 83% (2007) VAM Source: WFP 15 13% 10 Female Unemployment 20% 5 0 12% Male Unemployment Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08 Oct-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 12%
Incidents Total Deaths Civilian Deaths 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Iraq Basrah UN & NGO Presence & Response Funding in Basrah Funding in Basrah FAO, UNHCR, UNIDO Agriculture OCHA Coordination NICCI Iraq Basrah
UNDP, UNOPS, UNEP, UN-HABITAT, IOM IMC Source: 3W Database Economic Reform & Diversification NGOs UNICEF, UN-HABITAT, UNESCO, UNOPS, ILO, ESCWA, WHO, IOM PIN, RI UNCT Education & International WFP ROAD, MC Organisations Food Assistance ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNIFEM, UNOPS Governance Support UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNOPS, WFP, WHO, IOM Health & Nutrition UNHCR, UNICEF, IOM MA Housing & Shelter UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNIFEM, UNOPS, IOM Protection UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, WHO, IOM Water and Sanitation UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNOPS, WHO, IOM MC, RI Other
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 US$ Millions www.iauiraq.org Selected Indicators
The size of the symbol indicates the total number of individuals affected per district
al- al- al- al- Shat al- Basrah Basrah abu al- Faw Indicator All Iraq Khaseeb Zubair Qurna Al-Arab Midaina % % % % % % % % % Illiterate Women (10+) 24 18 12 20 18 29 30 23 38 Source: WFP VAM (2007)* VAM Source: WFP Illiterate Men (10+) 11 11 9 10 12 14 17 11 17 Education Women with less than Primary Education (10+) 47 43 35 44 39 64 60 48 73 Men with less than Primary Education (10+) 31 33 31 31 29 45 43 35 43 Female Labor Force Participation (15-64) 18 11 14 10 10 7 5 6 4 Male Labor Force Participation (15-64) 81 83 83 86 81 83 83 82 85 Employment Female Unemployment (15-64) 13 20 14 20 51 7 41 5 24 Male Unemployment (15-64) 12 12 11 16 15 7 13 10 10 Fever in the past 2 weeks 8 10 8 12 16 13 18 2 9 Health Diarrhea problems in the past 2 weeks 3 4 3 9 7 3 8 1 3 Chronic disease 9 8 8 10 12 7 8 7 6 More than 11 hours power cut per week or no network 55 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 Electricity No alternative electricity source 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lowest per capita Income Quintile 22 16 14 25 2 30 28 13 29 Poverty Lowest per capita Expenditure Quintile 20 10 8 16 1 19 19 6 21 Sanitation: Hole/None 8 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 3 WATSAN No access to safe drinking water 8 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Not connected to general network 26 99 100 100 99 99 99 100 100 Stunting: Chronic Malnutrition (children 0-5 years) 22 21 20 17 22 23 19 23 21 Food Wasting: Acute Malnutrition (children 0-5 years) 5 7 4 6 12 8 4 11 8
* The WFP VAM 2007 survey used a distribution of Iraqi districts which differs from that used by UN HIC. The district names and areas used for the reference map, indicator maps and demographics do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on behalf of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status or frontier delimitation of any district or other area shown.
The Information Analysis Unit is supported by OCHA and UNAMI Participating Agencies and NGOs UNAMI, OCHA, UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, FAO, WHO, UNHCR, WFP, ILO, IOM, Mercy Corps, International Medical Corps, GenCap and IMMAP